The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-24

Exchange furn shes the money to build
railroads all over the country, opening up
thc waste places, connecting produce with
ltS market and creating the exchanges Of
natural trade. In fact, the great industrial
| activities Of the country receive their i'm
pulse from the communications established
ny the bankers ard brokers. They do not
lear criticism or their critics"
Congressman Stephen V. White, Treasurer
OF plymouth Church. Brooklyn, is the Ad-
mlrable CrichtOn of Wall street brokers
lie Is poet, an astronomer, lawyer, an
art connoisseur, journalist and many other
Things besides. And he is good at every
thing he has undertaken, from poetry to the
manipulating of stocks and bonds. In
height and build he is much the same in ap-
pearance as was Gen. Grant, and he wears
fuu dark brown beard, as did the Cen
! efal. lie thinks clearly and expresses him
self well in few words After the subject
mad been introduced he asked the writer to
put his questions on paper When this was
done he wrote the answers, and the inter
| view appeared as follows:
Q-Detine gambling as distinguished from
legitimate dealing in stocks.
Mr. White-l am not given to over nice
distinctions. There are some people who
cal all speculation gambling. On that
theory man who buys real estate which he
does not actually need and holds it for a rise
is gambler. | do not SO consider it. Legti-
innate speculation in stocks is carried on
when a man buys what he can pay
| Tor, or amply protect his broker in paying
| for, and holds it for its income or expected
! enhancement in value. Gambling in stocks
would be where no stocks actually changed
hands, but the party trading risks
l or per cent. on the first fuctuation
of the stock after buying it. / have often
bought stocks which showed a large loss
before they showed a large profit, but
holding them on their merits and disre-
garding the fluctuations, they paid well in
the end
Q-What is the extent of the gambling
which you admit exists in stocks?
Mr.. White-I don't know. There are
bucket shops all over the country which
get Wall street quotations and back the
game against the public by charging a
commission and taking the risk against
the dealers, no matter on which side they
deal
Q-Is there any remedy'
Mr.. White-Nobody has found one yet so
far as | know
Mr.. Russell Sage is known all over the
UnitedStates not only for his immense stock
operations but also for his charities and his
activity in city mission work. He has for
years been painting for an opportunity to put
the ecclesiastical traduCeTS of the bulls and
bears to rOut, and though he makes it a rule
not TO talk to reporters, he broke the rule
with great prOmptness when he heard that
the Ionged for opportunity to defend Wall
street had come. In reply to a question as
to whether or not the brokers and their
business had been misrepresented he said A:
Il have been in business for moro than forty
years and [ have been actively engaged in
business in the city of New York for thirty
years, and my transactions have been con
sidered large. Speaking from that exper-
fence, can say that | never dealt with men
OF more integrity than the brokers of the
New y DIRK Stock Exchange. It is a we'll
known fact that out of every 1000 men
taken at random from any place there will
always be a certain percentage not up to the
standard we like to see, but, taken as a class,
the brokers' here are far above the average
of men in different parts of the country, in
uprightnesS and honesty and sense of JUS
tlce, and | venture to say that taken as a
class they compare favorably immoral char
acter and acts of charity and wholesome ex-
ample with those who criticise them. The
denunciation from which we suffer comes
from men who have suffered dissappoint-
ment by reason of having attempted to
teach a business which they did not under
stand to people from whom they ought to
learn. The consequent loss entailed upon
them from the want of acquaintance with
the business they attempted to teach has
made them bitter"
"In other words" said the writer, "you
mean to say that the clergy have come to
Wall street to shear lambs and have pro-
vided the wool themselvesf'
"You put down what / say, now, it don't
require any explanation If the shoe pinches
any of the clerical readers let them wear it.
As to the evil of gambling in Wall street,
which the preachers declare to be SO wide
spread, | have never observed it in the
twenty-five or more years that have been
in business here, and from my observations
in different parts of the country think that
the percentage of gambling is lower in New
York per capita than in other places In
saying this | don't mean to deny there are
men among the brokers who gamble What
l do say is that they are as insignificant per
centage. There always has been gambling
so far as we can trace history back, and |
suppose there always will be till the millen-
MUM. Why, if brokers were anything like
as bad as some people try to make them out
we could not conduct our business 1t re-
Qnres the highest sense of honor to sustain
a Stock Exchange, and ours is the best in
the world The London Exchange is looked
up to by all Europe on account of its
solidity, yet in comparison with ours it is
very shally We have nothing here, ex-
cept at rare intervals, like the excessive
risks and fluctuations of the London Elk
change"
The next was kind Of joint stock inter
view with Mr.. Joseph A. Jameson and Mr..
William E. Moorehouse. Mr.. Jameson is the
partner of Com. Smith. President of the
Exchange. M. Moorehouse is a well-known
public school principal. They side-tracked
their conversation when the reporter came
upon the scene, and pulling open the throt
tie valves of their oratory shot out on
the main line of Wall streets defense as fol
lows:
Mr.. Jameson-Thcre isn't enough gamb-
ling going on to suit me, if they call buying
and selling stocks gambling. IL is
about as much gambling as dealing in
-four or pork, and no more The Stock Elk
change is one of the most valuable institu-
tions to the nation at large that there is in the
country. 1t is an absolute necessity. People
are deceived, because in place of handing
over property we hand securities which
represent and give possession Of that
property. I've been in Wall street for
twenty years, and / find the brokers the
most dooent, honest and liberal men | ever
came in contact with. Every day, though
business is dull just now, there are trans
actions to the extent of twentN or thirty
millions Of dollars in the Exchange, almost
ill by word of mouth and all faithfully
lived up to, except in raro cases OF sudden
misfortune.
Mr. Moorehouse-Whorc would this
country be if it were not for Wall street
being willing to put money into new enter
rrieesg Tho rapitalistS are the pioneers who